Substitute for Cardamom?

Helmut

November 15, 20100 found this helpful

A rich gourmet will insist that there is no substitute for Cardamom, the queen of spices, and that if you have tasted fresh or freshly ground Cardamom, you would not even consider substituting for it.

For the rest of us, who have at best tasted not so fresh cardamom (it ages fast and loses flavor quickly), there ARE indeed substitutes. Shadow-grown or forest cress comes pretty close in meat or rice dishes. You can dress it a bit with a tiny amount of ginger and nutmeg, but not so much that you can actually taste those substitutes.

In baking it gets tricky, because there, cardamom produces a flavor that is totally different from what it produces in a meat or rice dish. If you mix finely ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon in equal parts, and use that mix sparingly, the baked goods will usually taste almost the same as if you had used good cardamom.

Have FUN!
DearWebby

(Guest)
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 846 Posts

November 17, 20100 found this helpful

Equal parts of ground nutmeg and cinnamon or equal parts of ground cloves and cinnamon.